Can someone please explain chicken eggs to me? What is the difference between the ones we eat vs the ones that hatch 🐣? Do chickens get pregnant? How do they lay eggs all the time ?

Question

Can someone please explain chicken eggs to me? What is the difference between the ones we eat vs the ones that hatch 🐣? Do chickens get pregnant? How do they lay eggs all the time ?

In: Biology

Answer 1

As with all farmed animals, we have spent thousands of years creating animals with the traits we want. In the case of chickens, this means “constantly laying eggs”.  

The eggs we eat come from chickens who *didn’t* mate with a rooster. The eggs that hatch comes from the ones who *did*. It’s still the same egg either way; it just depends on whether or not it was fertilized.